Robert P. LipschutzD-Link i2eye DVC-1100 Wireless VideoPhonei2eye eschews the tiny screens of other video phones by commandeering your television, which is both a blessing and a curse&#151;blowing up the video can hurt image quality, but you'll be able to fit a lot more on the screen.

i2eye eschews the tiny screens of other video phones by commandeering your television, which is both a blessing and a curseblowing up the video can hurt image quality, but you'll be able to fit a lot more on the screen.

The i2eye feels to us like a hybrid between a video phone and a videoconferencing system. It sits on top of your television, which it uses as its display. We imagine that most would use the i2eye in a living room or family room where the whole family could gather round. Whereas the other video phones work best with a single person, the i2eye comfortably brings a small group of people into view.

Even a modest-sized TV dwarfs the displays found on standalone video phones. The larger size exaggerates any video-compression and resolution faults but also shows people closer to life-size. Video quality was best at 256 Kbps, which could pose a problem for lower-bandwidth DSL but should not be a problem for many cable modem or DSL services. Quality at 128 Kbps was acceptable.

You configure the unit with the included remote control via on-screen configuration screens from the comfort of your couch. The DVC-1100 model we tested connects to your network using either an Ethernet or wireless connection (it works with any Wi-Ficompliant 802.11b/g access point or router). An external microphone port and phone port can be used to improve audio quality.

You'll need to open up some inbound ports on your firewall for the product to work. Whereas the video phones do some fancy negotiation to avoid changing firewall settings, D-Link just has you open up a range of TCP and UDP ports. It's a bit more work but must be done only once.

D-Link i2eye DVC-1100 Wireless VideoPhone

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Bottom Line: i2eye eschews the tiny screens of other video phones by commandeering your television, which is both a blessing and a curse&#151;blowing up the video can hurt image quality, but you'll be able to fit a lot more on the screen.

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About the Author

Rob Lipschutz is PC Magazine's Lead Analyst for Business and Networking. He is responsible for our coverage of networking, and of services and software targeted at the unique needs of smaller businesses. As former Technical Director, Networking for PC Magazine, he just can't get these products out of his blood. Rob has written three books and num... See Full Bio

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D-Link i2eye DVC-1100 Wireless ...

D-Link i2eye DVC-1100 Wireless VideoPhone

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